283x Filetype PDF File size 0.20 MB Source: eagri.org
Lecture 14: TRADITIONAL METHODS OF PEST CONTROL
CULTURAL CONTROL
Definition : Manipulation of cultural practices to the disadvantage of pests.
I. Farm level pratices
S.No. Cropping Techniques Pest Checked
1. Ploughing Red hairy caterpillar
2. Puddling Rice mealy bug
3. Trimming and plastering Rice grass hopper
4. Pest free seed material Potato tuber moth
High seed rate
5. Sorghum shootfly
6. Rogue space planting
Rice brown planthopper
7. Plant density
Rice brown planthopper
8.
Earthing up Sugarcane whitefly
9. Detrashing
Sugarcane whitefly
10.
Destruction of weed hosts Citrus fruit sucking moth
11.
Destruction of alternate host Cotton whitefly
12. Flooding Rice armyworm
13.
Trash mulching Sugarcane early shoot borer
14.
Pruning / topping Rice stem borer
15. Intercropping Sorghum stem borer
16.
Trap cropping Diamond back moth
17. Water management Brown planthopper
18. Judicious application of fertilizers Rice leaf folder
19.
Timely harvesting Sweet potato weevil
II. Community level practices
1. Synchronized sowing : Dilution of pest infestation (eg) Rice, Cotton
2. Crop rotation : Breaks insect life cycle
3. Crop sanitation
a) Destruction of insect infested parts (eg.) Mealy bug in brinjal
b) Removal of fallen plant parts (eg.) Cotton squares
c) Crop residue destruction (eg.) Cotton stem weevil
Advantages Disadvantages
1. No extra skill 1. No complete control
2. No costly inputs 2. Prophylactic nature
3. No special equipments 3. Timing decides success
4. Minimal cost
5. Good component in IPM
6. Ecologically sound
PHYSICAL CONTROL
Modification of physical factors in the environment to minimise (or) prevent
pest problems. Use of physical forces like temperature, moisture, etc. in managing the
insect pests.
A. Manipulation of temperature
1. Sun drying the seeds to kill the eggs of stored product pests.
o
2. Hot water treatment (50 - 55 C for 15 min) against rice white tip nematode.
3. Flame throwers against locusts.
4. Burning torch against hairy caterpillars.
o
5. Cold storage of fruits and vegetables to kill fruitflies (1 - 2 C for 12 - 20 days).
B. Manipulation of moisture
1. Alternate drying and wetting rice fields against BPH.
2. Drying seeds (below 10% moisture level) affects insect development.
3. Flooding the field for the control of cutworms.
C. Manipulation of light
1. Treating the grains for storage using IR light to kill all stages of insects (eg.)
Infra-red seed treatment unit (Fig.1).
2. Providing light in storage go downs as the lighting reduces the fertility of
Indian meal moth, Plodia.
3. Light trapping.
D. Manipulation of air
1. Increasing the CO concentration in controlled atmosphere of stored grains to
2
cause asphyxiation in stored product pests.
E. Use of irradiation
Gamma irradiation from Co60 is used to sterilize the insects in laboratory
which compete with the fertile males for mating when released in natural condition.
(eg.) cattle screw worm fly, Cochliomyia hominivorax control in Curacao Island by
E.F.Knipling.
F. Use of greasing material
Treating the stored grains particularly pulses with vegetable oils to prevent the
oviposition and the egg hatching. eg., bruchid adults.
G. Use of visible radiation : Yellow colour preferred by aphids, cotton whitefly :
yellow sticky traps.
H. Use of Abrasive dusts
1. Red earth treatment to red gram : Injury to the insect wax layer.
2. Activated clay : Injury to the wax layer resulting in loss of moisture leading to
death. It is used against stored product pests.
3. Drie-Die : This is a porous finely divided silica gel used against storage
insects.
Preparation of activated clay :
Kaolinite clay
POWDERING
ACID ACTIVATION
In H SO 10 N
2 4
DIGESTION (Autoclave - 1 hr in 15 lb)
WASHING
DRYING
POWDERING AND SIEVING IN 100 MESH HEAT
o
ACTIVATION (Muffle furnace - 4hrs at 400 C)
ACTIVATED CLAY
MECHANICAL CONTROL
Use of mechanical devices or manual forces for destruction or exclusion of
pests.
A. Mechanical destruction : Life stages are killed by manual (or) mechanical
force.
Manual Force
1. Hand picking the caterpillars
2. Beating : Swatting housefly and mosquito
3. Sieving and winnowing : Red flour beetle (sieving) rice weevil (winnowing)
4. Shaking the plants : Passing rope across rice field to dislodge caseworm and
shaking neem tree to dislodge June beetles
5. Hooking : Iron hook is used against adult rhinoceros beetle
6. Crushing : Bed bugs and lice
7. Combing : Delousing method for Head louse
8. Brushing : Woolen fabrics for clothes moth, carper beetle.
Mechanical force
1. Entoletter : Centrifugal force - breaks infested kernels - kill insect stages -
whole grains unaffected - storage pests.
2. Hopper dozer : Kill nymphs of locusts by hording into trenches and filled with
soil.
3. Tillage implements : Soil borne insects, red hairy caterpillar.
4. Mechnical traps : Rat traps of various shapes like box trap, back break trap,
wonder trap, Tanjore bow trap.
B. Mechanical exclusion
Mechanical barriers prevent access of pests to hosts.
1. Wrapping the fruits : Covering with polythene bag against pomegrante fruit
borer.
2. Banding : Banding with grease or polythene sheets - Mango mealybug.
3. Netting : Mosquitoes, vector control in green house.
4. Trenching : Trapping marching larvae of red hairy catepiller.
5. Sand barrier : Protecting stored grains with a layer of sand on the top.
6. Water barrier : Ant pans for ant control.
7. Tin barrier : Coconut trees protected with tin band to prevent rat damage.
8. Electric fencing : Low voltage electric fences against rats.
Advantage of mechanical control Disadvantages
1. Home labour utilization 1. Limited application
2. Low equipment cost 2. Rarely highly effective
3. Ecologically safe 3. Labour intensive
4. High technical skill not required in adopting.
Appliances in controlling the pests
no reviews yet
Please Login to review.